Food start-up Zomato, Swiggy, Zomat take steps to ensure delivery time during heavy rain

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Food start-up Zomato, Swiggy, Zomat take steps to ensure delivery time during heavy rain

An incessant rainstorm caused havoc in Delhi on Thursday and Friday. The national capital had to be put on yellow alert by the Indian Meteorological Department because of the water-logged roads and traffic jams.

One section affected by the rains is the delivery companies and individuals who deliver orders, as well as people going to the office and children going to school.

Food delivery start-up, Zomato, said that the weather has had an impact on services due to infrastructure constraints and difficult road conditions. The company spokesman told Business Today, "We are trying to be serviceable at this time and request everyone to be empathetic with the ground crew who are braving the roads and bad weather to serve our customers."

She said that delivery partners are equipped with the right gear - raincoats, mobile covers, traffic and water-logging support, among others, as they deliver essentials across the region. Swiggy, Zomato's rival, had a similar strategy.

The foodtech unicorn said it compensates its delivery partners from the surge component that leads to a rise in prices during such times, despite the fact that it always monitors the situation.

In light of the situation, BT spoke to a delivery partner in Zomato. He said he is facing a minimum 30 minute delay for all orders because of the rains. The delivery person said that if he gets an order from the company, he must deliver it regardless of the rains.

Swiggy is not the only start-up to impose the surge component. A surge fee is added during heavy rain periods when backed by a quick commerce company, Dunzo.

Vijay Verma, Vice President of Supply and Operations at Dunzo shared an interesting point. He said that the number of orders usually goes up during rains because people are unable to step out. He said that they are mindful of the safety of their delivery partners while ensuring that customers have access to the essentials.

Some of the steps taken by Dunzo to make sure delivery time isn't longer than 60 minutes and temporarily pausing services in water-logged and inaccessible areas are some of the steps that are taken to make the process smoother.

Zepto, a start-up, is known for its 10 minute deliveries and pushes its delivery times. Speaking about the on-ground situation, Zepto's COO Vijay Dhanani said that the rains have severely impacted areas in and around Gurugram and a number of areas in South Delhi.

The NCR has a slight increase in traffic, which is adversely impacting delivery times. Delhi is a big and hard-to- ignore market for delivery and ecommerce companies. Fynd, an online retail firm, says that one-quarter of its total orders comes from Delhi. The situation in the last 72 hours resulted in the piling up of orders. In order to keep the delivery partners informed about the on-the-ground situation, it has created WhatsApp groups.

Harsh Shah is the co-founder of Fynd and says we are keeping a close watch and making sure we deliver safely and on time. Shah and all others have pointed out that they are waiting for the situation to normalise as soon as possible.